Blacklock's Reporter

The Privy Council Office quietly paid researchers to poll Canadians on decriminalizing narcotics, records show. Findings of focus group surveys were delivered to cabinet aides only weeks before Mental Health Minister Dr. Carolyn Bennett announced the partial lifting of a 1911 criminal ban on simple possession of cocaine in British Columbia: “There were some concerns raised about moving in this direction.”

Canadian financial support for Ukraine will continue, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said yesterday. Freeland spoke of “my cousins in Ukraine” in praising Canadian aid worth $3.12 billion to date: “It’s one thing to promise the money. It’s another thing for that money to hit Ukrainian bank accounts.”

One of the world’s largest tech trade groups says an internet regulation bill by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez will hurt consumer choice and must be rewritten. The bill passed the Commons June 21 but faces opposition in the Senate transport and communications committee: “Governments should be modest about imposing obligations on the technological future.”

Pandemic money worries saw a quarter of Canadians fall behind on monthly bills and a fifth borrow from friends and family, says in-house research by the federal Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. Forty percent of Canadians surveyed said they “had to use my savings due to the Covid-19 crisis,” typically between $2,000 and $10,000: ““I am just getting by financially.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it will hire German consultants to promote poutine and other specialties for Oktoberfest. The idea was to “promote Canadian food and beverage products to German-speaking end consumers,” it said.

The Canadian Embassy in Washington in internal emails disclosed it was under scrutiny by watchful U.S. officials over handling of vaccine mandates on truckers. Staff cited “inquiries from the White House” just days before the Freedom Convoy blockade: “Discussion came at the request of the U.S.”

Supreme Court of Canada nominee Michelle O’Bonsawin in a 2016 questionnaire said her family suffered discrimination from people “insensitive towards your heritage.” The remarks were omitted from a 2022 questionnaire released by the Prime Minister’s Office: “Oh, she’s a native Indian, she’s our Pocahontas.”

The Supreme Court is a “colonial institution,” Attorney General David Lametti said yesterday. Lametti told the Commons justice committee he wanted to revitalize ancient Indigenous legal systems: “It gives a boost to Indigenous laws themselves.”

Employees who do dangerous work, even firefighters, cannot be forced to take random drug tests without cause or consent, a judge has ruled. The decision came on an appeal by firefighters at the Ottawa International Airport: ‘Management provided no evidence of a problem of drug use among employees.’

CEO Ian Scott of the CRTC yesterday was cleared of any wrongdoing in meeting privately with a telecom lobbyist in an Ottawa bar. A snapshot of the meeting was obtained by TekSavvy Solutions Inc. that complained of a breach of ethics regulations: “He paid for his own drink.”

TV broadcasters received more than $100 million in direct federal subsidies through the pandemic, the CRTC disclosed yesterday. The cash grants were in addition to waivers on millions in mandatory licensing fees: ‘There were significant declines to ad revenues.’

A third of Canadian tourism operators plan to sell their business or close for good, say Department of Industry researchers. Net losses due to the pandemic averaged more than $120,000 per operator: “The industry is now in the midst of an unprecedented situation.”

An army gunner sentenced to jail after feeding marijuana-laced cupcakes to troops during a live fire artillery exercise has lost her final appeal. It was the first case of its kind since Parliament legalized cannabis, noted the Court Martial Appeal Court: “They were in no condition to be firing high-powered artillery.”

A cabinet press aide who once told reporters false federal job creation claims were a “mistake” is now communications director for the Liberal Research Bureau. Danielle Keenan yesterday was granted a waiver under the Conflict Of Interest Act to take up her new post: “She is highly qualified to continue to be in the service of Canadians.”

Thousands of Canadians have suffered serious adverse reactions from using natural health products, says the Department of Health. The figures were detailed in a correction to an “error” in a legal notice: “Monitoring of products focused on reacting to complaints.”